HAMPDEN — There is a strong argument to be made that the Mohlars are the first family of Maranacook soccer.
After senior midfielder Silas Mohlar scored in the final minute of a 1-0 victory over Fort Kent in the Class C title game Saturday, the family added yet another crown on the pitch. Silas has been a part of two state championships, while older brother, Kent, was also part of two titles.
Together, they won the Class C title in 2014, when Silas was a freshman and Kent was a junior. Kent was a sophomore on Maranacook’s first championship side in 2013.
“We’ve put a lot of time into Maranacook soccer,” Silas said after the Black Bears’ third Class C title in the last five years. “My dad coached me all through travel, and I’ve had (Maranacook head coach Don Beckwith) since sixth grade. You can’t write a better picture right here.”
Phil Mohlar, Silas and Kent’s father, joined Beckwith’s coaching staff prior to Kent’s freshman season in 2012. He graduated from Maranacook in 1981 and went on to play college soccer at the University of Maine at Farmington.
Nobody was prouder than Phil to have watched one of his sons capture another championship Saturday.
“It couldn’t get any sweeter,” Phil said. “To win is the important part, but to see him knock it in after watching him run around at two feet high — words aren’t there to describe just how good it feels. I’m so happy for him, because I know how hard he’s worked for so long.”
The Mohlar brothers are different players. Both midfielders, Kent was the 2015 Kennebec Journal Player of the Year after scoring 23 goals as a senior, and he just completed his second season at NCAA Division I Siena College. Silas served as more of a backbone in the midfield, less inclined to lead the Maranacook attack than to do the little things that would build it.
His teammates took notice of Silas’ willingness to fill whatever role was required.
“I’ve been playing with him since I could walk,” senior center back Jackson McPhedran said of Silas. “We’ve had great chemistry, and I love playing with him. For anyone who scored that (championship) goal it’s huge, but especially for Si, you’ve just got to feel good for him. He’s put four years in and his time has come. It’s awesome.
“He puts in more of the hard, dirty work than Kent may have, but he’s able to use that to make those quick little things happen.”
Beckwith was emotional when talking about the contributions of the Mohlar family to his program.
“Supportive. Athletic. Phil’s always been here for the program, not just his kids,” Beckwith said. “He’s been here for all the kids. They’re really good people. They know the game.
“Both (Kent and Silas) will give you right out of their heart, they’ll give you all they’ve got. Kent’s probably a more dramatic player, Silas is always doing the little stuff all the time, consistently. Kent didn’t do that because he was such a great athlete, where Silas has to work — and he does, all the time. Both are great leaders, great teammates and really great players.”
Phil Mohlar said having two sons who approach the game in different ways doesn’t give more credence to any particular championship run. They all come from the same place.
“For me as a father, no. They’re both important parts of the team, as is every kid that’s here on the bench,” Phil said. “I look at it that way. I’m about the team stuff. None of it happens unless all these kids are out there busting their hump. You just want to get them to a point where they can compete and maybe have an opportunity to get in the playoffs, and whatever happens from there happens.
“They got a chance to compete, and it’s all them. They just work so hard.”
That’s an opportunity their father never got. Phil’s Maranacook teams in the early 1980s never qualified for the playoffs.
“We were never close,” Phil said. “We were always good and competitive, but never at the level these guys are.”
And with Silas scoring the winning goal Saturday, Beckwith believes there’s a lesson to be learned from the Mohlar family.
“It’s just going back and showing that you don’t have to be the greatest athlete, you have to be the hardest working kid. That’s who (Silas) is,” Beckwith said. “That’s what’s helped us in these state championships and these long runs. The guys can see the hard work and it pays off.”
Travis Barrett — 621-5621
tbarrett@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TBarrettGWC
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